No luster lost, despite teams' records

One team is 3-4. The other is 0-6. Not exactly what was predicted when the Red Sox brought back their World Series-winning team and the Tigers made one of the biggest offseason trades and soared to the second spot in baseball in total payroll.

But that hardly means the teams that meet today at Fenway Park will be in the same position - last in their divisions - by the time next week rolls around, let alone the postseason.

Though some might have anticipated a slow start for the Red Sox, given their trip to Tokyo and topsy-turvy spring training, there weren't such problems expected for Detroit. The Tigers not only started the season at home, they were matched up against the lowly Royals, then faced the White Sox, a good team but not as heralded as the Tigers.

"I, personally, am embarrassed," Tigers manager Jim Leyland told reporters after Detroit lost, 13-2, to the White Sox Sunday night. "And I would hope they are, too."

Despite an offense that was supposed to be among the best in baseball - possibly history - the Tigers haven't found their stride at the plate. They are hitting .245 as a team, which is 10th in the American League and 18th in baseball. The team's slugging percentage (.358) ranks 11th in the AL, just behind those Royals. Only the Pirates, Giants, and Marlins have a worse ERA than the Tigers' 5.30.

"Not saying this disrespectfully," Red Sox manager Terry Francona said yesterday, "but I hope it lasts a little longer."

The Red Sox aren't far behind, especially with their 4.80 ERA, but at least they have those three wins. All three came against Oakland before the Sox were swept over the weekend in Toronto.

"They're coming through here and they're going to be raring to go," Francona said. "So will we. You're talking about two teams that think they can be pretty good. It doesn't make it easier, but you have to try to look at things logically. It's early, and sometimes things don't get tied together the way you want to early. That doesn't mean you're not going to be a good team.

"Do you want to lose games? No. Never. But you have to not make poor decisions because you're six or seven games into a season. Sometimes you need to let your team ride it out a little bit. I think you can, as a manager, get involved too quick and lose some of the things that can make your team special down the road."

And this Detroit team still looks special.

The Tigers pulled off the biggest trade of the winter meetings when they snagged Miguel Cabrera and Dontrelle Willis, adding the third baseman (.320 average, 34 home runs, 119 RBIs in 2007) to a lineup that already included Gary Sheffield, Magglio Ordonez, Ivan Rodriguez, Carlos Guillen, Curtis Granderson, and Placido Polanco. The Tigers also picked up Edgar Renteria from the Braves.

It almost looks more like a fantasy baseball roster than a real one. But it's also a lineup that's not hitting right now. Most observers, though, think that's all going to change, probably soon.

"That's going to be a good club," said Sean Casey, who played for the Tigers last season. "Bottom line is, there's still [156] to go, if you really put it in perspective. They're even better than we were last year offensively. They're going to dominate some teams. They're going to win some games 12-0, 12-5, whatever. They're going to put some runs on the board. You can put that in the bank."

Like the Red Sox, with Josh Beckett's late start to the season and Mike Timlin's stint on the disabled list, the Tigers have had injuries. Just more of them. Sheffield has an injured left ring finger, Cabrera has struggled with a sore quad, and Granderson is on the disabled list with a broken finger. Pitchers Joel Zumaya and Fernando Rodney are also on the DL.

But for the Red Sox and the Tigers and the rest of baseball, the season is young. There are more than 150 games to play. So these six losses by the Tigers might be forgotten by the end of the year. So too might the ugly weekend series against the Blue Jays for Boston. Sure, it could be a harbinger of what's to come. Or it could mean nothing, other than a few early checks in the loss column.

"Toronto just outplayed us," Francona said. "They outhit us, they outdefended us, they outmanaged us. They did everything better than we did. That's just the way it was this weekend. Hopefully we'll do a little better.

"That's just the way the game is, and the older I get, the more experienced I get, it doesn't get easier. When you lose, it hurts, and our whole day is based around that. That probably will never change."

And it's something that, at least right now, the Tigers and Leyland most certainly understand.

Amalie Benjamin can be reached at abenjamin@globe.com